┏━━━━✶ ࣪˖࿐ *━━━━┓

NINETEENTH STREET

THE GROCERY LIST IN HER HAND WAS STARTING TO FEEL LIKE IT WEIGHED A THOUSAND POUNDS.

Given that Ella was off for the summer, her parents were effectively putting her to work. Running errands, helping out around the house, grocery shopping while they worked— you name it, Ella would be doing it.

She didn't mind, though, not one bit. It gave her something to do while she was home, while her internship program was paused for the summer break. The girl had been a meticulous saver during the academic year, and the money she'd earned from the program would surely carry her through until the fall.

This grocery trip in particular was the first of its kind, given the sheer length of everything her family suddenly needed. The list had come directly from her mother, though the obvious change in penmanship suggested that Jamal no doubt made some additional requests.

The mini mart that was nestled on the corner of the neighbourhood wasn't all that mini to begin with. It almost resembled one of those niche whole food stores, except with the general ambience of a convenience store. She'd no doubt have to make another stop at a bigger store, but most of what she needed could be found within the trusty mart.

It was almost the evening, and Ella had known the mini mart owner since she was in middle school. He was an older man that everyone seemed to respect, mostly because he operated on a no bullshit policy. The word was that you could fight as much as you wanted on the sidewalk, but it had to stop on his property.

Hence why out of all the places she could be with the sun going down, the mini mart was her safest bet.

It was just busy enough that Ella didn't need to hear her own thoughts, but she was glad to be able to not have to mutter an excuse me every five seconds in the store.

She was parked in front of the small dairy section when her luck unfortunately ran out.

"Those for when you egg my place?"

Ella withheld the urge to roll her eyes as she caught his figure, or really, his cocky smirk, in her peripheral. "They're five bucks a carton," she grumbled, placing said carton into her shopping basket. "Can't afford to be wasting precious cargo on your stupid ass."

The odds were well and truly against Ella Turner, it seemed. Since she'd been back, for all of four measly days, she'd run into Spooky nearly every day. The universe was not giving her a break... nor was he.

She wandered along, and in addition to the sounds of the radio over her head was the sound of footsteps trailing behind her. "Your brother tell you what's been goin' on?"

Ella ducked into an aisle, and he followed. "All of it," she responded before abruptly stopping to face him. He was less than a foot away from her, but she still lowered her voice. "Cuchillos? Are you for real?"

"I'm handling it," he dismissive gruffly, before his eyes swept around their vicinity, "but she's getting impatient."

Ella threw her hands in the air. "My brother has a target on him because of this shit," she whisper-shouted, her hand smacking him on the arm. "How the hell are they supposed to find Lil Ricky?"

"I told you, I'm handling it," he grumbled in response. It evidently wasn't the right answer, as the Turner girl reached out to smack his arm again. Only this time, he caught her wrist, gentler than the last time as he simply lowered it.

She chose not to think about that any longer than she needed to.

"We're talking about my brother, here, and yours," she emphasized, snatching her hand back as she kept on walking. He followed once again, and her tone returned to its normal volume. "If you're gonna follow me around, the least you could do is hold my basket for me."

Spooky gave her a flat look. "That's an exaggeration," he responded, but Ella gaped at him when he actually snatched the basket from her grip. "And even if I was, maybe that's a sign you should be coming home more."

Her hand paused as it reached for a can of soup her mother requested, literally blinking at the label as she mulled over his words. "I didn't think you'd miss my friendship," she snarked back, her chin raised, "not when you didn't appreciate it the last time around."

Spooky laughed— actually laughed at that, and it made Ella want to throw the can of soup she was holding at his head. "You worry too much about other people," he mused with a cheeky grin, and she scoffed. "Gotta worry about yourself more, college girl."

"You're a real piece of work," she grumbled out. She turned to him, jabbing her finger right in his chest. "You ever think that maybe I just wanted—"

Ella's phone ringing promptly cut her off. "You gonna finish cussin' me out, or you gonna answer that?" Spooky all but taunted.

"Answer it, dumbass," she replied, before she was fishing her phone from out of her pant pocket. The Caller ID was flashing with a picture of herself and her father, and her eyebrows furrowed. Clicking the green button, she held it up to her ear. "What's up, Dad?"

There was a beat of silence before she heard him. "You know I wouldn't ask you to do this, but I've got no choice," the man started, and the hoarseness of his voice made an alarm bell go off in her brain. "I need you to get a hold of Oscar for me."

She held the phone tighter, looking at the man who was intently watching her. "What do you need from him?"

"Just tell him to meet me at Dwayne's," her father responded, and in the background, the sound of someone stepping on glass was picked up. "Tell him it's urgent."

Her gut churned. "Okay, I'll— I'll let him know," she responded, and before she could even utter out the reasonable follow-up question of are you okay, she heard the dial tone.

"What was that all about?" Spooky asked, gesturing with a nod toward her phone that she was looking at. It was obvious with how much closer he'd gotten that he tried to be nosey and listen in.

Ella tugged on her lip, taking the basket from him and depositing it in the empty space on the shelf in front of her. She'd come back for them later.

"Something's wrong with my dad," she murmured, her own confusion surfacing in her voice. "He needs your help."

She watched Spooky's confusion morph into something more serious, and in that moment, she knew the help her father required wasn't ordinary in nature. No, he needed a Santo.

"We'll come back and pick up your car later."

✶ ࣪˖*

The sun had fully set by the time they reached Dwayne's, and even from the back lot, Ella could immediately tell that something was wrong.

"Holy shit," she murmured upon seeing the door kicked in.

Just as her hand reached for the door handle, the Diaz man's voice cut her off. "Stay in the car," he all but demanded. 

All it warned was an exasperated look from the girl in the passenger seat. "Yeah, fuck no," she snapped, clamouring out of Spooky's car before he could lock it from his side.

When her eyes averted to where her father's truck was always parked, she saw a bunch of produce sprawled around next to wooden debris of some sort.

Spooky's hand wrapped around her bicep for a beat. "Stay behind me." She went to argue, to say this was her father they were talking about, when his grip tightened to interrupt her train of thought. "I mean it, querida."

At the heated look in his eye, she nodded, all but clinging to his shadow as he marched toward the building. The pair wordlessly entered, and all that could be heard was the sound of something crunching beneath their feet.

Inside, the entire place looked like it had been utterly ransacked. Tables were tossed aside with one flipped on its very side, napkin dispensers and ketchup bottles laid askew on the floor, and the amount of broken glass alone made her spine stiffen.

It looked like a break in gone wrong, and if it wasn't for the fact that her father was slumping in a booth looking like he'd fought off an army, she would've assumed it was just that. But no, that was a blissful sort of ignorance— something she couldn't afford as she stared at the man.

"I thought I told you to send him," her father called out, almost chastising the girl for being there.

She frowned. "Tough luck." Without another word, she dove into the back room that looked to be in a similar state as the rest of the Joint, but she couldn't worry about that in that very moment.

Her eyes raked over the shelves until they settled on the bright red of the first aid kit, peaking at her from behind a cardboard box. On her tippy toes, she reached for it before heading back into the seating area, watching as Spooky surveyed the damage.

He took a seat across from her father, and Ella used the booth behind to shakily climb into the space on her father's right side. That was the side where his hand was kept under a ziploc bag of ice, and he didn't make another remark as she peeled the bag back.

"I need protection," her father grit out, and it was more of a plea rather than a simple request beneath his hard tone. A beat passed between them all before he uttered out, "Nineteenth Street."

There was anger clouding in Spooky's eyes at that, but for Ella? The devastation on Ella's face wasn't something she could even try to cover up. Her father had been caught in some sort of gang-related crossfire— her father, the man who welcomed everybody, who gave people second chances.

"I'll have one of my boys come over tomorrow," Spooky said, and though he didn't outright say it, it sounded like he was agreeing. "Help clean this shit up."

Dwayne nodded, not even wincing as Ella prodded at his torn up knuckles. The bones beneath were starting to swell, and she was certainly no doctor, but even she could tell that something was at least fractured.

The three of them sat there for a beat before Ella looked to the man across from them, who quickly caught her gaze within the second. She mouthed two words in his direction, because despite her apprehension toward him and despite his carelessness over the day he threw her friendship aside, he was helping her family.

And for that? Yeah, she could afford to be a little thankful.

Thank you.

✶ ࣪˖࿐ *

[ wyn's note ]

this is gonna be oscar's in to getting to see ella more because the turner's need that protection >:) forced proximity bc of gang relations incoming LOLOL

thanks for 1K!! all my love x